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Chapter 4944.4.2.3Framing balanced sentimentIn the balanced coalition, the framing of processed food was commonly as providing “many possibilities” (benefits) in combination with the framing of processed food as being a “health threat” (Figure 4.3). For example, it was stated that “tertiary food processing [the commercial production of ready-to-eat or heat-and-serve foods] has been criticized for promoting overnutrition and obesity, containing too much sugar and salt, too little fibre, and otherwise being unhealthful in respect to dietary needs of humans and farm animals”, but also that “many forms of processing contribute to improved food safety and longer shelf life before the food spoils”.45 In some pages, this balanced frame was complemented by the “nutritional value” frame, according to which nutritional value or energy density per type of processed food should be assessed in order to be able to judge if the food product is healthy or not. For example, a new-media journalists claimed that “the best way to tell the difference between healthy refined food and not so healthy refined food is by doing a little nutritional sleuthing (as in label reading)”.46This textual framing was commonly accompanied by an “abundance” or “contemplation” visual frame. “Abundance” was communicated with a mixture of visualizations – some portray foods perceived as industrial and others portray foods perceived as natural. “Contemplation” was present in photographs portraying people reading food labels, looking at a shopping list while shopping for food, and scrutinizing a food or seeming to be thinking seriously about it when taking it off the shelf (Figure 4.5). Hence, the mixed message about processed food as having benefits but also possible downsides was combined with a visual framing of people trying to make choices and also with having enough food. This visually frames processed food as leading to food-choice hesitancy but also to have enough food, or even abundant food.The main findings are summarized in Table 4.1.45 Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_processing accessed 15 February 2021.46 Source: https://www.verywellfit.com/are-all-processed-foods-unhealthy-2506393 accessed 15 February 2021.Efrat.indd 94 19-09-2023 09:47